Change in diet might be effective for those with allergic oesophagitis, a new research shows.
Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) or allergic oesophagitis is an allergic inflammatory condition of the oesophagus that involves eosinophils, a type of white blood cell. Symptoms are swallowing difficulty, food impaction and heartburn.
The cohort study analysed the EoE data gathered from University of North Carolina from 2006-2012. Subjects were 18 years of age or older and diagnosed with EoE based on consensus guidelines.
Researchers examined two diet elimination plans. For the first therapy - targeted elimination -participants had to undergo evaluation with skin prick testing, and foods that had a positive reaction, as well as any foods identified by patient self-report as being possible triggers regardless of the severity of response, were eliminated, the authors explained in a press release.
The second diet - the six-food elimination diet - involved removal of dairy, wheat, eggs, soy, nuts and seafood from the patient's diet regardless of skin-prick test results.
Researchers found that 68 percent of those in targeted diet elimination group reported symptom improvement compared to 78 percent of those who followed six-food elimination diet plan.
The team said that for the people in six-food elimination diet, one food (or food group) was added back every six weeks, and endoscopy was repeated. Eggs and dairy were found to be the most common cause, both impacting 44 percent of patients.
"By eliminating specific foods from patients' diets, symptoms improved in 71 percent of patients, and endoscopic appearance improved in 54 percent," said lead study author, W. Asher Wolf, MD, MPH, and co-author Evan S. Dellon, MD, MPH, from the division of gastroenterology and hepatology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine. "These strong results support dietary elimination therapy as an effective treatment for adults suffering from EoE."
The study authors said that more research is required to identify effective dietary therapy to target patients most likely to respond.
The study was published in the journal 'Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology'.
